


Absolutely Beautiful

by highlytrainedfangirl



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec is a good boyfriend, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 09:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8244263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highlytrainedfangirl/pseuds/highlytrainedfangirl
Summary: Magnus has always hated his appearance, so he hides away beneath layers of make up. Alec just wants to make Magnus see how beautiful he really is.





	

The face stared back at him through the glass, a blank canvas waiting to be filled with colour. Magnus always adored doing his make up, he found it mesmerising watching as different coloured powders were able to alter his face shape and change his entire appearance. But doing his make up always came alongside one of the worst parts of his day, looking at himself beforehand.  
He wanted to block out the images of his own skin, marred with small spots, blemishes, even the odd scar. He buried the uneven colours and rough imperfections beneath a layer of tan foundation. He hated the flat, shapeless face that sat above his shoulders. Through the wonders of make up he was able to give himself prominent cheekbones and a slender nose. He glared through his too-narrow eyes, using vibrant eye shadow and eyeliner to distract from how small they really were.  
Every detail was perfectly done. Magnus transformed his dull, hideous face to a work of art. Every day he strode around, head held high with confidence, revelling in his masterpiece.

 

It had never been an issue before, people readily fell in love with the flamboyant warlock, not so much the man behind all of that. Alexander was something beautiful he could never have predicted. He didn't care about the extravagant party host, he truly cared about the fragile man beneath the make up.  
And therein lied the issue. They had been together for several months and Alec had innocently asked why he always wore a full face of make up around him. Magnus couldn't answer that. What was he supposed to say? _You wouldn't love me if you saw me without it._ He couldn't say it. He couldn't.  
Without caring what words came out of his mouth, he hastily changed the topic. Alec gave him a strange look from the comer of his eye, but didn't press. 

 

The sound of footsteps in his bedroom doorway made Magnus freeze. He was sitting at in front of the mirror, stripped bare of make up, preparing to start his morning routine. He knew who the person in the doorway was. Alec was coming over today and early on in their relationship Magnus had given him a key and told him to just come in whenever he visited. He hadn't expected Alec to be early.  
Paralysed in his seat, Magnus refused to turn and look at the open doorway. He couldn't do it. He couldn't let Alexander see him, not like this.  
“Magnus are you okay?” Alec could see the tension in his boyfriend’s shoulders. Slowly he began to walk towards the stiff figure in the corner.  
“I-I'm fine, I'll just, um, I'll meet you in the living room.”  
“Magnus?” This time he sounded genuinely concerned and Magnus cursed himself for being so terrible under pressure. He panicked and buried his face in his hands as Alec came to stand beside him, hiding his face from view.  
“Mags, what is it?” The small, tentative voice beside him cooed as a hand rubbed circles into his shoulder.  
“Don't.”  
Alec was confused by the response and gingerly kneeled on the floor by Magnus’ chair. “Don't what?”  
“Don't look at me like this.” Magnus threw a million different curses at himself internally. He sounded so pathetic and weak and his voice had to go and crack at the end of that sentence. Alec was even more confused for a moment, before his eyes widened in comprehension. Shifting slightly on the floor and twisting Magnus’ chair around, he settled between the other man's knees. Slowly, he reached up to place a delicate hand around each of Magnus’ wrists. He drew slow, gentle circles into the exposed skin above his pulse points and waited patiently for Magnus to lower his hands. When he felt the arms in his go slack, Alec carefully brought them downwards.  
He placed Magnus’ hands in his lap. The warlock refused to bring his gaze up from the spot where his hands lay, but he could feel his boyfriend’s eyes roaming his bare face. Magnus wanted to shut out everything. He wanted to close his eyes and realise that all of this was just some horrible nightmare. Maybe if he just closed his eyes, ignored the sound of the man shifting in front of him, maybe he could convince himself that it wasn't happening.  
In his peripheral, he watched as Alec drew closer and felt the tentative brush of lips against his skin. First against his lips, just at the corner of his mouth. Then they led a trail up across his cheek, over the bridge of his nose, and down in the same pattern across the other side. A soft kiss was pressed into his lips with the mumbled words of “you are beautiful.”  
A delicate kiss to his temple, “absolutely beautiful.”  
A press of lips to the space between his eyes, “every” by his left ear “single” the edge of his jaw “part” beside his lips again “is perfect”.  
The sudden forwardness was so out of charter for Alec, but he needed to make his boyfriend understand just how gorgeous he was.  
Tears leaked from the corners of Magnus' eyes and he didn't even bother trying to hold them in. Tracks of water charted their own paths, followed by a trail of kisses.  
“I promise you Mags, you are beautiful. With or without make up, you are prefect. Don't ever let anyone else tell you otherwise.” He leant their foreheads together, “especially yourself.”

 

He still felt self-conscious about his appearance. He still painted himself into a different person when he left home. But when he was alone, looking at his face in the mirror, he no longer detested the man staring back at him. Every time he felt the self doubt creep in, Alec would be there to kiss away his fears.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't even know where this idea came from. I'm sorry.


End file.
